NEW DELHI: Parking disputes are a fiery reality in the city. The police control room receives over 7,000 calls annually. In 2025, these have shown no signs of slowing down, with 5,773 calls pouring in during the first eight months of the year. The cops rushed to 259 of these calls in the first eight days of Aug alone.The month-wise breakdown of calls reveals a concerning trend with an uptick between March and July. The PCR received 648 calls about parking disputes in Jan, 605 in Feb, 755 in March, 927 in April, 876 in May, 806 in June and 897 in July.These numbers only validate the ongoing conflicts over parking, which often escalate into acts of violence, even murder. In July, a man was injured during a shooting after a parking wrangle in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar while another suffered burn injuries in southwest Delhi’s RK Puram when a man allegedly poured petrol on him while he was inside the vehicle. In May, a 65-year-old man was arrested for stabbing two men to death and seriously injuring another after their tempo allegedly brushed against him in northwest Delhi’s Adarsh Nagar.While the space available for parking has remained the same over the years, the number of vehicles has increased massively. At more than 1.5 crore, the number of registered vehicles in Delhi is equal to the total of registered vehicles in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai together, according to recent road transport ministry data. This is excluding the vehicles entering Delhi from other states every day.And Delhi is not alone. Instances of violence over parking are increasing across the globe. Last year, a man named Alan Rodriguez was indicted for shooting at two men – Jignesh Patel and Vijay Patel – in a parking quarrel outside his house in New York. But unlike Delhi where the assailants can get away easily, Rodriguez faced up to 25 years in prison even though the victims were shot in the foot and knee. A similar incident was reported from Florida last year where a fight over parking turned deadly at a Los Angeles strip mall, where a man shot another individual. Another 30-year-old was stabbed to death over parking at a Walmart store in Houston, Texas, last year.Legal experts and retired cops say there has to be stringent action against such violence. “If the smaller incidents like scuffles are taken seriously and action taken against the parties living in close proximity, a bigger crime like a murder can be averted at times,” a top retired police officer said. The former cop said that the practice of a ‘compromise’, brokered often by junior constabulary, emboldens people where they think they can get away by apologising or face, at most, a simple assault case without arrest. “This belief needs to change and there has to be severe deterrence for taking the law in their own hands. This will make people exercise restraint on the roads while reducing the strain on law enforcers,” the officer said.
